The Deaf | Page 5

dumbness are, physically, two essentially different things. There is no anatomical connection between the organs of hearing and those of speech; and the structure and functioning of each are such as to preclude any direct pathological relation. The number of the so-called deaf and dumb, moreover, who are really dumb is very small--so small actually as to be negligible. Almost all who are spoken of as deaf and dumb have organs of speech that are quite intact, and are, indeed, constructively perfect. It comes about, however, that dumbness--considered as the want of normal and usual locution--though organically separate from deafness, is a natural consequence of it; and does, as a matter of fact, in most cases to a greater or less extent, accompany or co-exist with it. The reason of this is that the deaf, particularly those who have always been so, being unable to hear, do not know how to use their organs of speech, and especially are unable to modulate their speech by the ear, as the hearing do. If the deaf could regain their hearing, they would have back their speech in short order. The character of the human voice depends thus on the ear to an unrealized degree.
NUMBER OF THE DEAF IN THE UNITED STATES
According to the census of 1900 there were 37,426 persons in the United States enumerated as totally deaf;[2] and according to that of 1910 there were 43,812 enumerated as "deaf and dumb."[3] Hence we may assume that there are between forty and fifty thousand deaf persons in the United States forming a special class.[4]
The following table will give the number of the deaf in the several states and the number per million of population, according to the census of 1910.[5]
NUMBER OF THE DEAF IN THE SEVERAL STATES
NO. PER NO. PER MILLION OF MILLION OF NO. POPULATION NO. POPULATION
United States 43,812 476 Montana 117 311 Alabama 807 377 Nebraska 636 531 Arizona 53 259 Nevada 23 281 Arkansas 729 464 New Hampshire 191 443 California 784 329 New Jersey 667 263 Colorado 243 304 New Mexico 177 540 Connecticut 332 297 New York 4,760 522 Delaware 59 291 North Carolina 1,421 644 District of Columbia 114 344 North Dakota 239 414 Florida 216 286 Ohio 2,582 539 Georgia 956 366 Oklahoma 826 491 Idaho 114 349 Oregon 241 359 Illinois 2,641 468 Pennsylvania 3,656 477 Indiana 1,672 619 Rhode Island 208 383 Iowa 950 427 South Carolina 735 485 Kansas 934 552 South Dakota 315 539 Kentucky 1,581 690 Tennessee 1,231 563 Louisiana 774 468 Texas 1,864 478 Maine 340 458 Utah 232 621 Maryland 746 576 Vermont 126 354 Massachusetts 1,092 324 Virginia 1,120 543 Michigan 1,315 468 Washington 368 323 Minnesota 1,077 519 West Virginia 713 584 Mississippi 737 410 Wisconsin 1,251 537 Missouri 1,823 553 Wyoming 24 159
From this table the largest proportions of the deaf appear to be found in the states rather toward the central part of the country, and the smallest in the states in the far west and the extreme east. The highest proportions occur in Kentucky, North Carolina, Utah, Indiana, West Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas, Virginia, New Mexico, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, New York, and Minnesota, all these states having over 500 per million of population. The lowest proportions are found in Wyoming, Arizona, New Jersey, Nevada, Florida, Delaware, Connecticut, Colorado, Montana, Washington, Massachusetts, California, District of Columbia, Idaho, Vermont, Oregon, Alabama, and Rhode Island, in none of these states the number being over 400 per million. Why there should be these differences in the respective proportions of the deaf in the population of the several states, we cannot say; and we are generally unable to determine to what the variations are to be ascribed--whether they are to be set down to particular conditions of morbidity, the intensity of congenital deafness, or other influences operating in different sections; or, perhaps in some measure, to the greater thoroughness with which the census was taken in some places than in others.
AGE WHEN DEAFNESS OCCURRED
The vast majority of the deaf lost their hearing in early life, and most of them in the tender years of infancy and childhood. More than ninety per cent (90.6, according to the returns of the census) became deaf before the twentieth year; nearly three-fourths (73.7 per cent) under five; over half (52.4 per cent) under two; and over a third (35.5 per cent) were born deaf. Deafness thus occurs in a strongly diminishing ratio with advancing years.[6] These facts may be indicated by the following table,[7] which shows the percentages of those who became deaf at different ages.
THE DEAF ACCORDING TO AGE OF OCCURRENCE OF DEAFNESS
At birth 35.5 After birth and under two 16.9
Under two years 52.4 2 and under 4 17.1 4 and under 6 7.3 6 and under 8